Magnolia's Autumn Festival
by Pokemon Ranger-Trainer
Summary: With the fall comes a reason for Magnolia to celebrate. Everyone is in on the celebration! Happy tries his very best to show his beloved Carla a good time. Samuel has a theory that he turns into a gift for the one he loves. Erza has a culinary-based secret that few knew about. Gray and Juvia work the coffee bar, and iced coffee is given a whole new meaning.


**I got this idea when I saw a picture of Happy wearing a jacket. Given that the autumnal equinox was only a matter of days ago and October is right around the corner, and with it the spirits of Halloween, I decided to write this little one-shot. I have a crazy train of thought. This will kind of continue off of my recent "Three Little Words" story. Yes, that means you get to see Carla's half-brother, Myo (an OC born from two non-OC's; Shagotte and Pantherlily). Also, I don't think I plan on giving Happy a sibling. I just wanted to see what the general opinion was.**

**Happy: And the winner is…a sister! Oh… I wanted a brother…**

**I wanted a brother, too, Happy. No, seriously, I got a sister instead.**

**Happy: She's fun, though. Thanks for voting, everyone! Who knows? The Ranger here might change his mind!**

**I don't own Fairy Tail, but I can stake claims to Ester, Crimson, and Myo. I don't think I use any of my other OC's in here. OC's worth mentioning, however, are TheGreatSakura's Ruby and Garnet, Crimson's mother and older brother respectively. Yes, this one-shot is long. I just couldn't stop! I'm sure there's something in here for a lot of people. Mostly Cappy, though. Enjoy!**

The town of Magnolia certainly always found a reason to celebrate. As such, with every reason came a festival of some kind. That was one of the things Lucy loved about Magnolia. Accompanying the fall season was the autumn festival. There would be games, music, and barbeque all over town. It was really anyone's kind of party. Undoubtedly, Fairy Tail would be in on it in some way. However, all Lucy hoped for was that Carla's baby half-brother would be there. In her room, she oozed, "He's just adorable! He's like Lily's cute double!"

"You don't find Pantherlily cute, Princess?" Virgo asked curiously, appearing from nowhere.

"No, he's cute. It's just…Myo's even cuter! Such a sweet little kitten!" Lucy exclaimed, crossing her arms as if she was hugging the baby Exceed in question. Then, she came to realize something. "Wait a second. What are you doing here?! I didn't call you!"

"I came on my own accord. Do you think the natives will allow me to perform a traditional autumn dance?" Virgo asked curiously, getting in Lucy's face.

"Too close…" Lucy muttered.

"Are you going to punish me?"

"No."

"…I'm going to go die now."

"What?! Wait, that's a little harsh! I'll punish you, just don't do anything rash!" Lucy panicked, fearing for the safety of her friend and Celestial Spirit maid. Virgo handed Lucy a paddle. The blonde looked uncomfortable, but she had already agreed to punish her maid. She only hoped she wouldn't live to regret it.

After thirty consecutive minutes of Virgo insisted that she be additionally punished, Lucy trudged tiredly down the stairs to find Levy in her home. Sighing, the Celestial Spirit wizard said, "I knew it was only a matter of time."

"Sorry, Lu. Natsu said you wouldn't mind," Levy chuckled sheepishly. The script mage's cream colored Exceed partner, Ester, had her nose deep in a book about chlorophyll. That was one way to embrace the scientific aspect of the autumnal season.

"Natsu, eh?" Lucy muttered, bearing a twitchy eyebrow of twitchy doom. "He wouldn't happen to be in my bathtub, now would he?"

"Yep," Levy answered with a nod. "I hope Miss Shagotte brings Myo to the festival."

"Right? That little guy is so adorable!" Lucy exclaimed, practically squealing.

"Yeah! He's like Lily, but cuter!" Levy agreed and made a point.

"I bet he thinks that Happy is his older brother. He imitates him a lot," Ester looked up from her book and stated. There was a gleam in her eyes. Of course, that could have been a glare that the sunlight shining through the window cast on her glasses.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to head over to one of the barbeque places with me later on. There's this really good one that I'm dying for you to try!" Levy exclaimed.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that. How exactly does the whole barbeque thing work?" Lucy asked curiously.

"A bunch of the townspeople volunteer to prepare the meat however they please with money provided by the watchful eyes of the mayor and the town," Levy explained.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Lucy exclaimed. She glanced out her window and saw Happy the blue Exceed flying towards Fairy Hills. "I guess someone's got a hot date."

Happy finally arrived at Fairy Hills, the girls' dormitory. It was also the living place of his beloved Carla. Just thinking about her made his knees go weak and start to knock.

"There you are!" Carla came outside to great him. She was wearing a pink jacket that was suitable for cool evenings, yet comfortable on warm afternoons. Some people found such clothing to be miraculous. In addition to his green bag, Happy was wearing a red hoodie with the Fairy Tail mark on the front. It was actually a gift from Carla. She remarked, "Well, someone looks dashing today."

"Thanks to someone I know," Happy pointed out and took hold of Carla's right paw with his left. He didn't think that a hoodie would be described as 'dashing', but he did love the sweatshirt and it was warm and comfortable. "Papa sold some of his corn to one of the barbeque people. Maybe we should look for it."

"Your father grew corn this summer?" Carla asked, unaware of that.

"Aye! Whether in Edolas or in Earthland, there is something about farming and gardening that gets that cat man going," Happy explained. "At first, I was a little confused by it all. He's campaigning for Exceed last names. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah! Corn!"

"And what did you say to him?" Carla asked, intrigued. "About the corn, I mean."

"I said, 'Papa, why are you planting corn in your back yard?' Then, he said, 'Kah! Because I'm a real man! Keep plowing!'" Happy continued to explain. "Is your mama coming?"

"Yes. She's just dressing Myo. He said the cutest thing the other day," Carla answered and began to tell him a story.

_Flashback…_

"_It's going to be someone's very first Halloween," Pantherlily said to his son, sounding rather excited._

"_Hawwowee?" Myo tilted his head._

_Shagotte gently picked him up and placed him on her lap. She said, "That's right, Myo! Halloween! All of the little boys and girls dress up in costumes and parade around all night with their friends and their mommies and daddies as people give out candy."_

"_So, what's my little man going to be for Halloween?" Pantherlily asked._

"_Hmm…" Myo looked like he was considering it, as if he actually took in all of that information at one time._

"_A brave warrior like Daddy?" Pantherlily suggested hopefully._

"_No." Myo shook his head. The older black Exceed fell over in utter defeat._

"_A handsome prince?" Shagotte guessed playfully._

"_No," Myo answered, again shaking his head._

"_Um…a ghost?" Shagotte guessed again._

"_No," Myo answered again._

"_A pumpkin?" Shagotte continued to guess, beginning to get desperate._

"_No."_

"_A vampire?"_

"_No."_

"_A jackal? A rabbit? A schoolboy?"_

"_No."_

"_Sweetie," Shagotte began, exhausted and out of guesses, "tell Mommy what you want to be for Halloween."_

"_Happy!" Myo exclaimed cheerfully and clapped his paws._

"_Happy?" Shagotte echoed. The older female giggled. "I think that's a fine idea! Your sister will sure get a bang out of it!"_

_End of flashback…_

"He wants to dress up like me?" Happy asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Indeed," Carla replied, nodding in confirmation. "Luckily, Max opened up shop again, so we can buy a costume from him."

"The Happy costumes always seem to sell at festival time," Happy stated with a frown. "He might run out before you can get your paws on one."

"But we already bought one," Carla informed him, which seemed to shock him. "Oh, put that face away!"

"Happy!" Myo flew out to Happy, landing in his arms. The baby black Exceed looked up at the older, yet still young blue Exceed and laughed happily.

"Oh, Myo! Wait for Mommy!" Shagotte begged, running after the baby. She sighed with relief when she saw her son with Happy and Carla. "Thank you, you two. He's a speedy little thing. I keep worrying that he'll run off someday. I need to get into better shape. A pregnancy has its tolls…"

"Nonsense, Mother. You look just as you did before Myo was conceived," Carla informed her mother of her opinion.

"Thank you, Carla," Shagotte thanked her daughter.

"He's growing up fast! You're going to be big and strong one day!" Happy exclaimed, hugging Myo. His beloved's younger half-brother was like the brother he never had.

"Happy, are we meeting up with your parents?" Shagotte asked.

"Aye! Mama said she would meet up with us in town and Papa said he was going to supervise the grilling of the corn. He made extra sure that the guy with the corn was the guy with the fish, too!" Happy answered cheerfully. Shagotte smiled at his abundant and youthful energy. It reminded her of her husbands, both her late husband and her current one. Happy asked her, "Are we meeting Lily?"

"Aye!" Myo answered before Shagotte could.

"He said he'd meet up with us as soon as he helped Samuel with something," Carla explained Myo's answer to Happy. "Lily never mentioned what, though."

"I'm sure we'll find out," Happy claimed with a smile. He was so full of energy. Carla could almost not believe that a few weeks before, Happy was so fatigued after invoking Shining Aera, a legendary Exceed power, that he couldn't move. She actually thought that he would still be exhausted.

Meanwhile, Samuel was gripping a paper bag, walking down the street beside Pantherlily. In the bag was something that he had planned to give to Ester. Ever since Happy and invoked a magic beyond the standard Aera, Samuel believed it would be possible for Exceeds to learn magic other than the magic that gave them flight. He did not really have solid evidence to back him up. Shining Aera seemed like a more advance form of Aera, and there was a story he had heard of a clan of Exceeds that practiced water magic and sold it in bottles. Again, it gave him hope, but it wasn't solid.

"You okay?" Pantherlily asked him.

"I'm fine. I just hope this works, and that you didn't go through all that trouble to help me for nothing," Samuel told the elder Exceed.

"Do you doubt yourself, kid?" Pantherlily raised and eyebrow.

"Well, I don't have anything truly solid to base my calculations on—" Samuel began, but was soon cut off.

"So what?" Pantherlily asked. Samuel looked at him in shock and intrigue. "You don't need to base your whole life on calculations. All you really need is heart, and you've got that. All you have to do is believe in yourself and your guild, and you do. You have the heart of a Fairy Tail member."

"I do?" Samuel asked.

"Sammy, I'm going to tell you a story," Pantherlily sighed.

_Flashback…_

"_I don't think anyone realized it, but that cat, Samuel, was able to see me without the guild's emblem," First Master Mavis Vermilion told Pantherlily. "Of course, this was prior to joining."_

"…_What?!" Pantherlily shouted in shock, nearly choking on his kiwi. "How?! Why?!"_

"_He has the heart of a Fairy Tail wizard. I think it is fate," Mavis replied and walked away._

"_For an astral being, she can give people a real scare…" Pantherlily mumbled, still recovering from the shock of almost choking to death on his favorite food. "How can she have to use the restroom if she's a ghost, anyway?"_

_End of flashback…_

"Fate…" Samuel looked up at the sky. "Yes. I have to believe. I have to believe."

Pantherlily looked forward and his eyes widened. "Uh, right now, you should believe in looking forward." It was too late. Samuel walked right into Ester. "Oh, boy…"

"Oh! Essie! My deepest apologies!" Samuel panicked, helping his beloved up.

"What's that, Sammy?" Ester asked, noticing the paper bag.

"A, um, a gift," Samuel stammered. He blushed and twiddled his thumbs, then gave the bag to her. "For you."

"Thank you," Ester accepted the bag and kissed him. His glasses fogged up and his blush deepened. She broke away from him and pulled out what was in the bag. It was a spell book. "A book on Solid Script magic?"

"Straight from the Magic Library where one of the Clock Parts was hidden," Samuel added. "I think that you can somehow learn to use it. That is, if you want—" He was cut off by another kiss.

When Ester pulled away, she said to him, "That's so sweet of you. I'm sure it's possible. I'm going to learn Solid Script magic. For you. And thank you, Mr. Lily, for helping him. I'm sure you did. You did, right? Right?"

"Yeah, kind of," Pantherlily chuckled awkwardly. Part of the reason he agreed to come along was because he was wondering if there was a way to restore Shagotte's lost wing, and a library of ancient magic seemed like a good place to start looking for an answer. Speaking of Shagotte, she was within eye-shot, along with their son, his stepdaughter, and Happy. Ester had been accompanied by Natsu, Lucy, and Levy. "Well, it looks like the gang is all here!"

"Dada!" Myo called out, holding Happy's paw.

"There's my little man!" Pantherlily chuckled, flew over, and scooped up his son in his arms. "My, you're a quick learner!"

"Most Exceeds are. I remember when Happy was really little, and I accidently said a curse word, and Happy repeated it all day," Natsu chuckled in recollection.

"Don't tell that story in front of Carla!" Happy panicked and lunged at Natsu.

"I'm almost afraid to ask what the word was…" Lucy muttered.

"It was—" Natsu was about to answer.

"Don't!" Happy covered his pink haired companion's mouth. He looked Carla in the eye and promised, "I washed my mouth out with soap! Honest I did!"

"You're quite better, I'd say," Carla remarked with a giggle. Happy was confused, unsure as to what she was referring. She was actually referring to the fight between Happy and an immensely power wizard called Tiran. It was thanks to Happy's Shining Aera that he was able to strike the right place at the right time and win. Carla had honestly feared that Happy would have been killed, because that would have undoubtedly been the outcome if the outcome of that battle was any different.

"We're still missing two…" Levy did a head count. Suddenly, a blur sprang up from beneath her feet. That blur was none other than Gajeel, who had Marl tucked under his arm.

"Mama!" Happy exclaimed cheerfully at the sight of Marl.

"Hello, dear!" Marl greeted sweetly, feeling a bit awkward about being held by the Iron Dragon Slayer in such a manner.

"Give Happy his mom back, ya jerk!" Natsu yelled at Gajeel.

"Cool it, Salamander! I'm just bringing her to him!" Gajeel yelled back.

"Boys, boys, don't fight over her! You're both committed to other women," Pantherlily broke up the fight in a teasing manner.

"Committed?!" Gajeel and Natsu gasped.

"Yes, that's right," Levy seethed.

"Committed. Would you like a dictionary?" Lucy offered bitterly. The two teenage girls were enveloped in flames of rage, which Natsu had no desire to eat as he had a sudden spike of fear.

Gajeel hid behind Natsu, saying, "Never again…"

"Hey, what's with you?! I'm no one's meat shield!" Natsu scolded, partially afraid that he was going to be hit with incredible megatons of force.

"The only thing that makes this even more awkward than it is already is that I'm married…" Marl muttered, forcing a smile.

"All I did was try to lighten the mood, but I think I ended up causing a grave misunderstanding," Pantherlily admitted in shame.

"Aye, sir. You really shouldn't have put my mama in the middle of this," Happy agreed and said, concerned about his mother. Gajeel put Marl down and Happy immediately hugged her.

"How about we try some of the games in town?" Samuel suggested. With that, they were off to play games. He and Ester were playing a dart-throwing game where the players had to pop balloons with darts. Samuel popped all three of his balloons, but Ester's first two darts bounced off the balloon she targeted. Samuel offered, "Do you need help?"

"Please…" Ester nodded, slightly frustrated.

"It's all a matter of technique," Samuel stood behind her and guided her wrist. Ester found that to be very romantic. The dart flew out of her paw and hit the balloon that had thwarted her twice. "See? You did it!"

"We did it," Ester corrected him. "Thank you, Sammy."

"It's like a town-wide carnival!" Lucy exclaimed as she looked around.

"Please, no rollercoaster," Natsu begged, suddenly motion-sick at the thought of being on a ride. There were a few rides at the festival, as luck would have it.

"Would you relax? Come on, let's go look at some of the barbeques," Lucy suggested, grabbed his wrist, and guided him away.

Gajeel and Levy were doing leaf rubbings. Gajeel had broken five pencils and his rubbing was not even two thirds of the way done. He growled, "Why are these pencils so fragile?!" He tried his sixth pencil and ripped the paper. "AAH!"

"When I told you to press the pencil down, I didn't mean that hard! Here, watch me," Levy instructed and showed Gajeel how to do it. He tried again, and this time, he did not break a single pencil and did no harm to his rubbing, either. "See? That came out pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, it kind of did," Gajeel chuckled triumphantly. "That leaf has some leafy veins. I'm gonna nail this to my wall when I get home! Or maybe I'll save it for Myo's quarter birthday."

"Quarter birthday?" Levy echoed.

"I love that little guy! I hope he grows up to be just like his Uncle Gajeel!" Gajeel oozed.

"That makes one of us," Levy muttered.

Not far away, Gray was assigned to work a coffee stand with Juvia. He had to admit that Juvia made one heck of a barista. Her coffee was a huge hit. He was supposed to aid in the making of iced coffee upon request. Every time someone ordered an iced coffee, and only an iced coffee, she would tell the customer, "You can truly taste the love made into it!"

"I swear she's not biased towards a certain kind of coffee!" Gray told one customer, startling him.

"Gray my darling?" Juvia tilted her head in confusion.

"It's nothing. Hey, why do we have apple juice on the menu if we're a coffee bar?" Gray asked out of curiosity.

"For the little ones!" Juvia answered. Speaking of which, Happy, Carla, and Myo were standing in line with Shagotte and Marl behind them. Carla was examining the menu on a white board, looking mostly at the tea section.

"Carla, you don't need to be having tea at this hour. Look at the juices," Shagotte instructed, worrying that her daughter may one day suffer from caffeine addiction.

"Yes, Mother," Carla responded flatly.

"I bet I know what you want," Happy said with a smirk.

"You're on," Carla replied.

"Three apple juices, please!" Happy requested.

"Coming right up!" Juvia exclaimed and gave each of them a juice box.

"…You were right…" Carla said in shock. "I can't believe you were right…"

Marl was about to pay for them, but Happy had already placed his own money on the counter. The blue mother Exceed said to her son, "Happy, I can pay for you. You don't need to be worrying about it…"

"I know, but I have some extra money. You should save up for that grilled corn and…the _fish_!" Happy replied, drooling on the last part.

"Thank you," Myo thanked Happy as he sipped his juice box.

"You're welcome, little buddy!" Happy responded with a smile.

"Aye!" Myo exclaimed cheerfully.

They went over to examine the barbeques when Marl spotted her husband, Lucky, with Pantherlily and a former native of southern Edolas, Salberay. Salberay had recently fallen in love with a red furred Exceed named Ruby and he spent a lot of his time with her two sons, Garnet and Crimson. Pointing, Marl said, "I found them!"

"You have sharp eyes. Of course…" Shagotte was saying, but trailed off.

"I know. They're nothing in comparison to the late king's," Marl finished Shagotte's sentence, giving her a smile of condolence.

"The chef's doing alright with the corn! And to think I was worried! Kah!" Lucky called over to Marl and Happy. The chef in question was…Erza!

"And look at how much finesse she put into slicing this fish! Beautiful!" Pantherlily held up a plat for Shagotte, Carla, and Myo to see.

"Fishy…" Happy and Myo drooled.

"Erza barbeques?" Carla and Shagotte asked in confusion. They had not seen that one coming, which was very ironic given that they both possessed the ability to see the future.

"Grilled corn and fish! Get your corn and fish here!" Erza called out. She saw the group of Exceeds and smiled. "I've been waiting for you all!"

Suddenly, Erza found herself being hugged by a blue and black Exceed. Those Exceeds were evidently Happy and Myo respectively. Happy cried tears of joy, "Erza, you're the best!"

"Aye!" Myo also cried tears of joy.

Smiling, the redhead replied, "I'm happy to be of service. How are the games?"

"Lots of fun! I won Myo and Carla each a stuffed animal!" Happy claimed proudly.

Jellal was among Erza's many customers. He had just decided to lay low and have the food. He smiled at her while keeping himself from standing on a table and dancing over how good Lucky's corn was at the hands of Erza's grill.

"Lucky, your home-grown corn is awesome! I made Ever try it! She said 'kah'," Elfman told his Exceed partner excitedly. Yes, as Happy had thought, Lucky and Elfman were perfect for each other as partners.

"Kah! I'm glad she liked it!" Lucky shouted.

"D-does 'kah' really mean anything?" Shagotte asked Marl cautiously.

"You think I'd know," Marl chuckled with a shrug.

"In a way, it's amazing you don't know after being married to him for so many years," Shagotte commended Marl's cluelessness over her husband's trademark phrase.

Happy decided to share his fish platter with Carla. He held up a fork, as if he was about to feed her. She was hesitant, but she complied. He gently stuck the fork in her mouth. She bit down, chewed, and swallowed the fish. Her eyes lit up, which pleasantly surprised Happy. Natsu plopped down beside Happy and said, "Yo! I just had a great idea!"

"What's that, Natsu?" Happy turned to face him as Carla climbed onto his lap.

"Liquid bread!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly. "It'll be a carbohydrate revolution!"

"You have fun with that," Carla told the Fire Dragon Slayer, which made Happy laugh. They rubbed their noses together, which made Natsu chuckle.

"You two crazy kids…" Natsu chuckled. He stood on a table and roared, "HAPPY AUTUMN, EVERYONE!"

Surely, the entire town of Magnolia heard Natsu that night.

**The end**


End file.
